So, the defending champions found themselves on the wrong side of the coin after the completion of half tourney. The skipper, Rohit Sharma has got themselves to blame for the scenario and credited Royal Challengers for their smart show. However, the only motivation for the team would be that they are still alive in the series albeit at the edge.
We got ourselves to blame: Rohit Sharma
The skipper of Mumbai, Rohit Sharma termed that his guys failed to tackle the smartness of RCB bowlers and added that it was a disappointment. He feels that the win at this stage was not an appreciable one as they are now thrown into such a stage where a loss would draw curtains on their title defence.
”It is disappointing to be on the losing side. We got ourselves to blame though. Didn’t play smart cricket which was required, losing wickets in the powerplay didn’t help, that’s where we lost the game. We wanted to keep ticking on the scoreboard, partnerships would have helped us. Credit to RCB, they bowled really well, it was a tough wicket and they kept us guessing all the time and it made things very difficult for us,” Rohit Sharma said.
We made silly mistakes: Losing skipper
Rohit Sharma furtherly added that they made silly mistakes in the game which cost them dearly. However, he hailed his bowlers for pulling back the things after the partnership from Virat Kohli and Brendon McCullum. Concluding it, he expressed his hope saying that they have a belief of making it to the knock-out phase.
”We came back well after that partnership between Kohli and McCullum, but as I said, we made silly mistakes, it shouldn’t happen at this stage of the tournament and that cost us. Still need to have the belief in ourselves, we can’t lose hope, need to win almost all our games now. We need to keep to the basics, I feel, we still have a good chance to qualify for the knock-out phase of the tournament,” Rohit concluded while speaking in the post-match presentation.
However, the win ensured RCB stay on the hunt while life became hard for Mumbai Indians in the tourney. Currently, RCB are placed 5th in the points table while Mumbai Indians are placed 7th. Coming to future assignments, RCB will take on Chennai Super Kings while Mumbai Indians will lock horns against Kings XI Punjab.